The Color of Love
by Rosaria Marie
Summary: For Easter, a poetic sequel to "Legend of the Lost": Dialogue between Severus and Lily upon finally being reunited in a world where the Color of Love penetrates the eyes deeper set. (Note: Highly recommend reading "Legend" first to better understand the references in the poem.)


**The Color of Love**

"Lily, tell me

What color is it I'm seeing?

Or is it something beyond sight?

Oh, tell me, Lily…"

 _"_ _Dear Sev, you know what it is…"_

"But I want you to be the one

To tell me again…

Oh, it's beautiful, Lils..."

 _"_ _Silly, silly…like a little boy…"_

"Oh, please tell me

Tell me forever

So this veinless heart

Keeps beating…"

 _"_ _Alright, I'll try and paint it –_

 _You know when the trees sang?"_

"Yes."

" _That's the color of their song._

 _You know when the stars were born?"_

"Yes."

 _"_ _It's the color of their birth._

 _And when the four winds spoke?"_

"Yes."

 _"_ _That is the color of their tidings._

 _It is snow upon the sun_

 _And wine upon the tongue_

 _And the sting of flowers grown in the bracken_

 _And the breath of thirsting souls."_

"It burns me, Lily…

Like the ink of books once burned me

But I want it always to burn

Burn on, burn on in me

Like the color of your eyes once did…

Oh, Lily, how can we see without eyes?"

 _"_ _Our truest eyes are deeper set,_

 _And they open fully when we awake from sleep."_

"Yes, sleep…

I feel that everything has paled

Next to the brilliance that is here…

Oh, is it not the color of fire,

And will it not swallow us up?"

 _"_ _Are you afraid, Severus?"_

"No, no…I want it to touch me…

To consume me, even…

Oh, what is this desire?"

 _"_ _They say that Hell is made of fire_

 _But separation knows no warmth_

 _The only fire that ever breathed_

 _With color, as you see it here,_

 _Was made of Love."_

"Then that is the true nature

Of the color that is calling me?"

 _"_ _Yes, my dear one, yes…_

 _The flames stoke the embers_

 _Of the Heart."_

"Is it like rebirth?"

 _"_ _Yes, as if all the world had died_

 _And fractured into starlight_

 _That sings a newborn song."_

"It is as if everything has stopped,

Frozen in fire…

Only to melt and run like a brook

That laughs for the first time.

Oh, Lily, I love your laugh…"

 _"_ _Oh, Sevy…back to me again?"_

"Yes. Always."

 _"_ _After all this time?"_

"Has not time perished

With the ocean foam

And burned away

Like mortal breath

Or run itself out

Like mortal blood?"

 _"_ _Oh, blood…oh, Severus…_

 _I wept for you when you died…"_

"And I for you, when you died."

 _"_ _I know. I felt it."_

"Perhaps the color is also

That of blood,

That of tears,

Shed for love?"

 _"_ _And the touch of one to another…_

 _That touches the soul."_

"Your boy…he touched me like that

When my lungs were failing…

I felt like a fool

For I had judged him sorely wrong

But he did not hurt me…

Not like all the others,

No, no…

He held me when I cried

And forgave me when I died.

He is your son, Lily…

He has your eyes

On the surface, and deeper set."

 _"_ _He called on me to come for you…"_

"He did?"

 _"_ _Yes…_

 _But I was already there."_

"You were?"

 _"_ _Yes…_

 _Did you not always know I would be?"_

"I hoped, but…

I was dirty, Lily, and it was dark…"

 _"_ _Oh, Sev, such a little boy…_

 _Did that ever stop me before?"_

"No, but…

You went away…"

 _"_ _Yes, I went away…_

 _But did you think I was truly away, all this time?"_

"…No.

You were the only melody I could hear

In the Silence.

But I…hurt you…

Lily, I…hurt **everyone** …"

 _"_ _But I see you…_

 _Oh, Sev, I always see you_

 _Always now_

 _And no matter how you were shadowed,_

 _You were never altogether lost_

 _For no mortal being_

 _May see this fire_

 _That loses himself to anything_

 _But Love."_

"Lily?"

 _"_ _Yes?"_

"Is there such a thing as touch here?

The last time I held nothing but a shell…

Though I knew you were there, somewhere…

Yet I feel you now, oh, close, close-knit…"

 _"_ _Nothing good is lost here_

 _No sense taken away, only transfigured."_

"What in us is holding on to the other?

Is it a knot looped 'round like a dance?

Is it like the breath that failed me?

Because…it wounds me…

But I keep wanting it…to wound me…"

 _"_ _No, it is not the breath which failed you…_

 _It is the one that is never snuffed out,_

 _And it wounds only to heal."_

"I am holding you, and you holding me…

We are alone, yet not alone…"

 _"_ _No, never alone."_

"The color I see…does it bring us full circle?"

 _"_ _Yes, it is the Circle_

 _With no beginning, and never ending."_

"Lily?"

 _"_ _Yes?"_

"Is it the color of our love?"

 _"_ _Ours, and all others like it…_

 _They all flow together, like a river…_

 _Like a rainbow."_

"Will we always be here?

Oh, Lily tell me…"

 _"_ _Oh, Sevy…dear Sevy…_

 _The wars are over_

 _This_ _ **is**_ _Always."_


End file.
